Jasper County sheriff warns of cattle thieves

They haven’t hit in Jasper County yet, but cattle rustlers are active in surrounding counties, prompting a warning from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office for rural residents to be aware.

John Hacker

They haven’t hit in Jasper County yet, but cattle rustlers are active in surrounding counties, prompting a warning from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office for rural residents to be aware.

“We haven’t had any reports out of our county as of yet, but they’re right over the line,” said Jasper County Sheriff’s Lt. Aaron Richardson. “Cattle have been stolen in Cedar, Dade, Lawrence, Greene and other counties. We had some people who lost some cattle last spring, and if they’re that close now, it’s only a matter of time.”

Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn gave several suggestions to help cattle raisers secure their livestock.

He said branding or making any permanent unique mark, visible from 20 feet or more is the best way to identify livestock if the animals disappear.

Richardson said most cattle raisers these days don’t brand their cattle because of the time and expense of the process, but without a brand, recovering a stolen cow is tough.

Other suggestions include:

• Keep pastures and gates locked.

• Deep ditches hinder driving a truck and trailer through them to go through fences.

• Check grazing pastures more often and vary the times you check them each day.

• Talk to neighbors who can see your pastures and tell them what vehicles are allowed in your pastures. Ask them to call you or the sheriff’s office if they see anything suspicious.

• Write down descriptions of any suspicious vehicles in the area and, if possible, the license number.

“Please remember, if you see a suspicious vehicle in your area, obtain the above information and call to request a deputy check it out,” Dunn said in his written release. “That’s part of the service we offer the public.”

Richardson said cattle thieves are often tough to catch because, sometimes a cattle owner doesn’t realize the animals are missing until several days after the theft.

“They may check their fields once a week and not even realize the cows are gone, especially if the thief doesn’t take all of them,” he said.

Richardson said the sheriff’s office plans to step up patrols in an effort to deter cattle thieves. He said thieves will often pull up to a field with a goose-neck trailer, or even a tractor trailer if they are particularly bold, cut the fence, and use all-terrain vehicles to herd the animals to the hole.

“Most people don’t transport cattle at night, so we’ll be watching while we patrol,” Richardson said. “We just want to ask farmers to be diligent in any way they can and watch out for suspicious vehicles.”